C is for counselling

The C-word is tricky.

To some it’s a lovely biblical word we ought to reclaim. The psalmist says ‘I will praise the Lord, who counsels me’ (Psalm 16.7); Proverbs offer us ‘sayings of counsel and knowledge’ (Proverbs 22.20) and Isaiah tells us of a Messiah who will be called ‘Wonderful Counsellor’ (Isaiah 9.6).

Shepherds of the flock

Promoting biblical counselling seems to make biblical sense. Others, however, associate ‘counselling’ with professional psychotherapy and think using the term in our churches will only create misunderstanding, because people will expect accredited secular counselling that has little to do with Scripture.